


Secrets And Changes

by afrostpatternintherain



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cannibalism, Cute Sibling Interactions, F/M, Gen, Kakuja, M/M, Nightmares, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Occasional fluff, Slow Burn, Tokyo Ghoul AU, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-08-08 17:39:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 14,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7767127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrostpatternintherain/pseuds/afrostpatternintherain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Humans live with the knowledge that ghouls are alive and present.<br/>Keith works in a café and lives a normal life. Still, there are things you simply don't talk about in public, for your own safety and for the safety of humanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

As he woke up from restless slumber his whole body ached and hurt.

 _Shit_ , he thought to himself. Fighting wasn't something he could simply do every other day, even though he had gotten used to it. The ghoul investigators grew stronger from day to day and Keith preferred to stay hidden. He preferred to stay hidden and safe. Life was already hard enough.

So he forced himself out of bed, the sheets still drenched with dried blood, and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

After waking up he usually started his day with sit-ups, but today he had no time left for that. He had to go to work.

Half a year ago, Keith had stumbled upon Café Voltron. Starved and striving for revenge,he had been taken in and soon it had become his second home.

Through working he could collect information, and information was what he desperately needed.

Putting on his black pants, a black shirt and his red cropped leather jacket, he made his way to the café. Luckily, it was only a few minutes away from his flat.

 

Entering through the back door, Keith could already hear the bickering which was typical for his co-workers. With a sigh, he ignored them and quickly changed to his working garment.

Fortunately his co-workers weren't bothered by the lack of greeting, they had somehow gotten used to it by now. Everyone knew Keith wasn't exactly what you would call a morning person.

'Good morning Keith!' Allura, the owner of the café, greeted him. As an answer she received only a grumpy hum.

Her hair was being held back in a braid and she wore white pants combined with a mint coloured crop top. Even in those early morning hours, she was already filled with energy, ready for whatever might come at her this day.

Putting a hand on Keith's shoulder, Allura lead him away from the others so they could talk in private.

'I heard you got into a fight with an investigator? You have to be more careful,' she whispered.

Keith took a deep breath. Yesterday's wounds hadn't fully healed yet and he was still in pain.

'I thought she knew something. I was wrong.'

'Which means she kicked your ass,' Allura mocked, earning her an angry glare which she simply chose to ignore since she had already grown familiar with Keith's antics. 'Just be more careful. Go and take it easy for a few days. No discussion.'

With this she left to join her uncle who had been waiting in her office.

The café would open in 20 minutes, so there was still plenty of time left to brew himself some well deserved coffee. As he carefully did so, he felt one of his co-workers approaching him.

'Heard you've fought another dove. Is there anything you're trying to prove? Want to one up me so badly?'

Keith simply huffed. He had no idea what he'd done to Lance, but the guy clearly hated him with all he had. Ever since joining Voltron he had seen him as a rival.

'Lance I'm too dead to talk to you right now.'

'Alright. You do you, mullet man.'

Surprisingly, he was now being left alone. Perhaps he still smelled like blood and Lance had taken pity on him.

Taking a sip of coffee, he almost burned his tongue.

After that, work went by fairly well. Many guests came, both humans and ghouls, so everyone was busy. Keith didn't mind though. There was something comforting in the routine of this work, he could just concentrate on what he had to do instead of mulling over his problems.

The doorbell chimed once again, announcing new customers.

A woman in her mid thirties with long, white hair wearing a suit came in first, shortly followed by a man with reddish hair and glasses. Something about him seemed so very familiar, but Keith couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was. Still, he was able to recognize the woman. She was an investigator. The one who had almost killed him yesterday, to be precise.

 _Well fuck_.

This could only mean trouble. Yet somehow, Keith managed to stay calm. Panicking would only put the others in danger.

Keith had one single option: treating both investigators like any normal customer.

With a forced smile, he greeted them. 'Welcome to Café Voltron. May I take your orders?'

The lady eyed him suspiciously, making Keith gulp. Then she smiled while her partner let his gaze wander through the café.

'Two cups of coffee, please.'

So he went and brewed their coffees, but not without warning Allura first.

After having had their coffees, both investigators left way earlier than anticipated. Still, Keith had a bad feeling about them and their visit.

The CCG's headquarter was too far away for this to be just a simple walk to get some coffee. They wouldn't just come here without any real purpose. Especially Keith knew that.

In this moment, he was relieved that he had gotten used to fighting with his mask rather quickly. Otherwise, he would've been dead by now. Praise anonymity.

Knocking on the door to Allura's office, he knew they all had to be very careful now. After explaining further about who exactly the investigators were, her eyebrows furrowed and she nodded absent-minded.

'I'll alarm the others.' Then she pointed at Keith. 'And you'll stay at home for a few days. We can't risk anything.'

Keith knew he had no chance of protesting, so he simply agreed with her. Allura could and possibly would beat him up if she had to. Being one of the scariest and strongest ghouls of all the wards, even to the CCG she was a mystery yet to be solved. There were many reasons, after all, why she was an SS rated ghoul.

Not wanting to provoke her in any way, Keith reluctantly went home.

 

A week later, there had no additional investigators been spotted in their ward. To be honest everything was normal, almost too normal.

Still, Keith returned to the café and was allowed to work again. Now he was back to his normal life.

Half a year ago, he wouldn't have been able to consider a life like this to be normal.

Back then, his normal life had consisted of going to classes and meeting up with his best friend, who was a trainee at the CCG, just like Keith.

Now everything was horribly different.

Half a year ago, Keith had still been human.

 

 


	2. Nightmares

'Keith!'

He turned his head around just to see a car approaching him fast; too fast. Then he felt the impact pressing the air out of his lungs. Shiro next to him groaned in pain and suddenly, everything went black.

 

The next thing he could remember were the unnatural hospital lights which mockingly distorted his vision. With his throat still sore, his voice apparently having been unused for a while, he screamed for a nurse, screamed for somebody who could explain what had happened to him and Shiro.

No one came.

Keith was scared. Too weak to leave his bed without any help, he soon fell into agitated slumber.

 

When he woke up again, he felt wrong. Something must have fucked with his senses. Everything felt and smelled so _absolutely wrong_.

Soon Keith gave up on trying to escape, there was no way out.

Night after night passed. Little changed.

 

Then, approximately two weeks after he had woken up for the first time after the accident, a tray was being placed on his bedside table. At first he barely registered it, still numb from the death-like sleep which robbed him of his consciousness. Perhaps someone regularly put him under drugs, Keith wouldn't even be surprised by that since he didn't remember much that had happened in those two weeks.

After waking up, he practically devoured the raw meat that had been sitting on a lone plate. His body had acted on its own and Keith couldn't help but feel ashamed. There was a weird sensation in his left eye, yet never before had he felt this strong.

Minutes later a doctor entered the room, a fake smile plastered on his face. Keith jumped up, startled and wary of the older woman.

Unfortunately, there were nurses -a man and a woman- blocking the door, which was his only way out of this goddamn hospital. Not that he was afraid of nurses, but those two were somehow entirely different, looking more like professional wrestlers. Trapped, he decided to listen to what the woman had to say.

His life was never going to be the same after that fateful night.

'Congratulations Keith. As of this day, you've become a ghoul.' She smiled.

Looking into her eyes, suddenly the hospital room was gone. Memories of his training flashed in front of his eyes. The worry, the agony and the sorrow. They all felt so real, close enough for him to almost grasp them. Keith felt himself floating through space. From afar, he could make out his comrades from Café Voltron. But now, there was someone else with them.

 

A yelp filled the silence. Keith had woken up with his head hitting the ground. Groaning, he held his head.

His heart beat too fast,but he couldn't tell if it had been caused by the nightmare -a figment of his memories which plagued him- or by him falling out of bed. Sweat was trickling down his back, leaving his shirt totally drenched.

Sleep wasn't an option anymore. Not after having had _that_ dream once again.

Standing up, Keith decided to brew himself a cup of coffee. Work would be hard without having slept for more than two hours.

Keith already being up had resulted in him being way too early for work. As he arrived, he still had 20 more minutes until Allura would open up the café's back entrance.

Yet he wasn't all by himself. On the porch were sitting Pidge and Lance, blowing into their hands to create at least a bit of warmth. Keith approached them, snow slowly starting to fall down and getting stuck in his hair.

The last time he had seen snow seemed to be so long ago. Thinking about it was similar to recalling the memories of a past life. Keith found himself yearning for the innocence he had back then, desperately wishing for some normalcy.

Young and naïve, his biggest wish had been to join he CCG; especially because his father used to work there as well.

His life now seemed to be close to a cruel joke.

'Hey Keith!' Lance shouted, 'What are you already up for?'

Sitting down next to them, he sipped on the coffee he had brought from home, already his second cup that day.

Pidge squinted at him. 'You look like shit,' they said matter of factly.

Massaging his temples, Keith could already feel the migraine starting to come up.

'Pulled an all-nighter. Couldn't sleep.' The fact that he was having the same nightmare over and over again was left untouched by Keith. His co-workers didn't have to know everything; especially not about him being a half ghoul. And honestly, he didn't want them to know. Perhaps he would end up losing his family once again, there was no way he would risk that.

Meddling with other more hostile ghouls without getting himself killed was already hard enough.

Moments later Allura joined them, apparently surprised by all of them being on time. A laugh escaped her lips as she unlocked the door.

'That's the first time I've seen you all together this early in the morning. Perfect way to start the day, guys!'

Relieved, they all followed her inside.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up coming out a bit later than expected due to me being in Amsterdam, but now I'm back, so there'll hopefully be a regular updating schedule (probably not).  
> Ayways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, comments are always appreciated!


	3. Interrupted Ordinariness

With a tacky ringtone the phone in his pocket rang, trying to catch his attention. Quickly, Keith picked it up.

The person on the other end of the line seemed to be out of breath, her voice strained.

‘Keith, could you and Lance take over the café for a few days?’ Allura panted. ‘I’m in the middle of something important.’ In the background there were various clashing sounds, several items exploding with horribly loud detonations. Knowing how serious the situation was, he agreed as fast as possible. After hearing his words of approval, Allura hung up immediately.

Keith was concerned but he had to call Lance before having time to mull her call over and over in his mind.

Allura was appallingly strong, still the doves were powerful as well. You should never underestimate them. Their quinques -which were made of a ghoul’s kagune- allowed them to actually kill ghouls.

With the knowledge of death’s never decreasing proximity, life was hard.

Eyebrows still furrowed and eyes filled with worry, he called Lance. Few seconds later, he picked up his phone, voice rushed, as if he were in trouble.

‘What is it?’ he mumbled, speaking shushed, almost not audible.

Shaking his head, Keith explained why he’d called. ‘Allura asked us to take over the café for a few days, are you alright with that?’

The strangled sounds of a human being dying were heard. Keith tried his best to simply ignore them; Lance was a ghoul after all and it was none of his business.

After a bit of silence Lance agreed and then hung up. So that was settled then.

 

The next day, Keith woke up way too early for any damn human being. He never understood how Allura was able to even be awake at such an ungodly hour. Still, he had promised her to take care of the café and Keith wasn’t the kind of person to simply break promises.

After changing and putting on a bit of makeup to hide the dark circles under his eyes, he quickly made his way to the café. Lance wasn’t there yet. Somehow, Keith wasn’t surprised by his tardiness. It was a typical thing for someone like Lance, or so he thought.

Eventually, Keith had to open the café by himself.

An hour passed, then two hours passed. More than 3 hours had passed when Lance finally arrived.

‘Where have you been?’ Keith asked, trying not to get too loud. This would only disturb their customers. Without giving an appropriate answer, Lance moved past him and simply shook his head. 'What do you care?'

No additional words were said, nevertheless Keith understood what he was trying to convey: he wanted to be left alone.

Lance had been in another fight with an opponent strong enough to cut open his skin, forcing him to stay at home so he could heal and hide his wounds. For once, Keith didn’t argue with him.

‘Go and take the day off.’ he ordered.

Today he was Café Voltron’s boss, he was allowed to make this decision. His voice might’ve sounded harsh but actually he was just trying to be nice. Staring at him, Lance packed his stuff and left without a word.

Was there a hint of thankfulness in his eyes or was it simply the light’s reflection? Keith wouldn’t know.

The rest of the day he worked alone with Hunk and Coran, trying to focus on the monotonousness of work.

 

When he arrived in front of café Voltron the next day, Lance was already present.

A smile hiding his worries and fears on his face, Lance greeted Keith and together, they got to work. They slipped into the same pattern of movements all over again, allowing them to chat a little.

Only now had he realized how few times he had spoken with Lance alone. Talking to him was like talking to a stranger, he always ended up finding out new things, new and interesting bits and pieces of information. His taste in music, clothes and movies, they all seemed to be extraordinary to Keith.

In the end, their days working together were pleasant, except for a bunch of minor fights that had occurred between them, but turned out to be pointless anyway.

After all, they were a good team.

 

It was his third day of leading the shop when Lance started to casually lean onto him. Swatting him away, he threw him a quick, irritated glance. He was still a mystery to him. Unsolvable, mysterious Lance.

They were about to close the café as they heard footsteps in front of the backdoor. Keith motioned to Lance to stand still. After all, the person outside could’ve turned out to be a dove, who knew.

Sliding closer to the window, Keith waited a few seconds filled with anticipation until he looked outside. The first thing he saw were white tufts of hair, disheveled and sticking together with dark fluid.

Then he looked closer one more time, realizing he had been wrong all along. There was no such thing as a dark fluid, it was blood.

The person standing in front of the café’s backdoor, seeking for a hide-out, a harbor in the waves of war, was barely alive.

Tearing the door open, Keith ran into the danger of the night and hurried to the stranger on the backdoor’s porch.

It was Allura and she was bleeding to death, quick and horribly silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the third chapter and I really have to thank my dearest sister for helping me out since I'm a mess. Thank you!!  
> This was easy for me to write and it's fun, so I hope y'all enjoyed it. On a sidenote, it will propably take some time until klance-y things will happen, so please be patient if you're here for that. Thank you for reading ~Glen


	4. The Resolution

 

'Lay her down, quick!' Keith shouted to Lance, hurriedly running to the café's freezer. He hadn't been in there that often, but often enough to know what exactly they were keeping inside of it. The meat had to be somewhere close. Throwing various unappetizing looking pieces which still made his stomach grumble in hunger into the microwave, he hurried over to Lance who had just put her onto a bed in the small infirmary.

Ghouls weren't supposed to die from bleeding out. They could only die through another ghoul or a quinque, so what had happened to Allura?

Lance pressed his hands onto a large wound on her abdomen, as if he were trying to just press the blood back into her damaged body.

The microwave rang and Keith went back to get the meat as fast as possible.

As they fed her piece after piece of the chunky, red meat, they could quite literally see her health improve. Skin growing back, the endless river of blood finally ending its deathly flow out of her veins. A pained sigh escaped Allura's lips.

An hour later, she was already looking remarkably better, next to normal. Still neither Keith nor Lance left her side.

Several minutes later, she awoke with a groan. Holding her head and looking around, she immediately realized where she was. The café was like a home to her, it was the last memory of her father who had been killed by the investigators, after all. At a young age she had taken over the café, her true home.

'How did I get here?' she now asked, her sight still a bit blurry, body still aching from her former injuries.

Lance turned around to her, a concerned look on his face. 'Keith found you half-dead on the porch.' A slight smile spread across her face.

'Thank you for taking me inside.' Then her face took on a more serious expression. 'I just fought three of the new investigators. They're stronger than expected, those doves.' As she sat up, she winced, barely audible.'I need to talk to Keith alone.'

Discontent, Lance left the room.

'I have new information for you,' Allura mumbled.

Keith could feel his heart beating faster. What was she going to tell him?

Wheezing, she took a deep breath. 'I have found your friend,' she said and quickly continued upon seeing his distressed expression,' but in a way I never would have expected.'

He could feel his heart beating in his chest, his heart, his fingertips.

'He's one of the three doves who almost killed me.'

For a terrifying moment, Keith forgot how to breathe. His chest seemed to squeeze his heart in an unhealthy way , intending on making it stop beating forever.

Shiro was an investigator of the CCG?

Memories of his former life flashed before his eyes.

Shiro and Keith -only 15 years old back then- sitting in a park, talking about their future. 'We'll both work hard to become investigators for the CCG,' they had decided.

 _What an irony_ , Keith thought to himself. Life was such a cruel, cold thing. He couldn't believe it. After everything that had happened, Shiro had still managed to fulfill his dream, although it seemed to be impossible. Shiro himself wasn't human either. There was no way the CCG had simply accepted him like that. He was also a ghoul, after all.

Now Shiro was Keith's enemy, the one who wanted to get rid of ghouls, the one who wanted to see them dead.

'How is that possible?' Keith finally asked, his mind jumping from conclusion to conclusion, in need of the truth.

Allura furrowed her eyebrows. 'A while ago, the CCG had introduced some new squads with half-ghouls. They'll do everything they can to stop us.'

Balling his hands into fists, he walked over to the window, staring out of it.

Back then, after he'd just been turned into a half-ghoul, he would have been euphoric to hear about this. He, even as a ghoul, could still work for the CCG.

Half a year later, everything in his life had changed.

Death, fights and bloodshed were filling his life. Still, he had been taken in by Allura. Her kindness was something he'd never expected to find in a world filled with killing and gruesome deaths. Many ghouls were crazy, dangerous and completely mad, as he'd always thought they were.

Nevertheless, humans and ghouls weren't as different as people used to tell him. When Keith had needed someone to guide him, he'd been saved by ghouls, not humans.

This world was fucked up and Keith simply tried to find his own place in it.

Yet before he could settle down, there was still somebody else who needed to be saved first, someone whose eyes needed to be opened. Keith would get his best friend back, no matter what price he had to pay.

'Did you fight him, Allura?' Keith now questioned.

'Yes. He is almost as strong as I am. A potential threat to our peace.'

Now filled with determination, he straightened his stance and locked eyes with her.

'I can't run away anymore. I'll get Shiro back.'

A wicked smile spread over Allura's face .'That's what I thought. Promise me to stay safe though, Keith. Don't do anything stupid, your friend is very strong.'

'I will,' he answered and exited the infirmary after excusing himself.

So Shiro was now an investigator. No matter what, Keith would get him back. He wouldn't allow the CCG to use and abuse his best friend.

Not anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on, I will probably upload irregularly, since school has started. Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoy my fanfiction.


	5. Attack and Retreat

Keith wasn't a coward. He wouldn't run away anymore, no matter what happened.

It was night, the cold air caressed his cheeks as he stood on the roof of a high building. Putting his mask on, he knew exactly what he was going to do.

In the dark alley, illuminated by the light of two old street lamps, there were two patrolling investigators equipped with their quinques.

As he jumped down the building, for a short moment there was the horrible sensation of falling. Then Keith simply felt the wind blowing against his mask.

The left half of it was a lion, as red as blood, glaring angrily, while the right half was nothing but blackness.

His feet cracked worrisome as he landed on the concrete in front of the investigators, every cell of his body ready to fight. He could feel the shift in his mind as his eye revealed his true nature: Keith was a ghoul.

The red, angry colour only seemed to complete the left side of his mask; an enraged lion that shouldn't be messed with. To the CCG, he was known as **Maverick** , a code name they had given him after some time. With the mask hiding his identity, he wasn't Keith anymore. Now he was Maverick, a ghoul.

After taking a deep breath, he rushed towards the investigators who immediately reached for their weapons. There was recognizable fear in their eyes. Keith wouldn't kill them. He had goals which were more important than a simple bloodbath.

Breaking a hand here, taking a leg there, their screams and insults echoed through the night, followed him into his worst nightmares.

His goal wasn't to kill them, no. Luring in more investigators was what he was really after.

One of the investigators lunged at him with her quinque, but Keith had already brought out his kagune. Since it was a Koukaku type it had wrapped itself around Keith's arm, similar to a sword.

Without any signs of hesitation, he attacked. The kagune shimmered in the light of the street lamps, as red as fresh blood, vivid yet deadly.

There was a horrible cracking sound while his kagune sliced through the investigator's skin and soon after she joined her colleagues on the ground in a pool of blood. They weren't dead, Keith had made sure to only hurt them in places which weren't lethal.

Guilt was flooding him, still he had to continue doing what had to be done to attract even more investigators. To attract a special group of investigators, to be precise. If he continued like this, they would definitely raise him in ranks and send the quinque squad after him. No matter how many investigators had to be hurt in the process, Keith didn't care. They wanted him dead, so he wanted them to stay in their own lane, it was just natural. It was the anger born out this miserable life he lead, now more of a ghoul than a human. Keith.

Clothes torn and skin ragged and ripped, he now felt the quantity of his wounds. He hadn't even realized that the investigators had hurt him. How alarming. He had to get food as fast as possible, otherwise he had to actually kill a human being.

With various detours, Keith then went home. After locking the front door he immediately sprinted to his fridge, ripped the door open and grabbed some of the meat. The scent climbed up his nostrils, penetrated his brain and all he could think of was meat, _meat_ , _**human flesh.**_ The food had to get into his system, now. Messy and quick, he devoured piece after piece until he was satisfied and back to his usual self.

The hunger had gotten to him once again and guilt wasn't the right word for what he was feeling anymore. Keith knew he was a monster.

Every horrible thought he'd had about killing other people, he could remember them, like a reminder of his sins.

With an audible sigh, Keith fell into his sheets, sinking into another nightmare filled slumber.

 

The next day was a Sunday, so Keith had his day off. Still, he had agreed on meeting up with Allura since she apparently had some important issues to discuss. Honestly, Keith didn't know what to expect, Allura was incredibly hard to read.

They met at the café since she spent most of her days over there. After he rang the bell she opened the door and pulled him in. To tell the truth, she didn't seem to be happy. Actually, she seemed to be furious.

'What's going on?' Keith managed to ask before she shut him up with a glare. Grabbing him by the collar of his leather jacket, she simply stared at him. Then she slammed the door shut by kicking it forcefully.

'What were you thinking?!' Allura shouted, fury in her eyes. 'You don't just attack some random investigators, have you even thought about what you're doing to our ward with you stupidity?!'

His back was pressed against the wall. Face to face, the dark and menacing eyes of a ghoul faced the ones of a human being.

Quarrelling with the queen was a mistake, Keith was sure about that; still it was too late to turn back now.

'I'll become an S-rated ghoul and then get Shiro back,' he growled, Allura's hands pressing him violently against the wall. His heart was racing, pumping harshly in his chest.

'There are other ways Keith,' she hissed back, 'I see you fucking shit up one more time,' her finger repeatedly pointed at his chest, making it hard to breathe, ' You'll be all by yourself again. Now go and think about what you've done, I'm very disappointed. You almost put all of us in danger.' With a last shove she pressed him against the wall once more. 'You'll take the first shift on Monday and I expect an apology in front of _everyone_.'

'I'm sorry,' Keith mumbled meekly and then left without a word.

Allura was right, carelessly attacking investigators wouldn't get him anywhere. Putting the other in danger hadn't been his goal, still it was what he'd eventually ended up doing. Keith realized that he had fucked up big time.

There had to be different way to lure Shiro back to their ward and Keith would do anything to find that special way.

First of all, he still owed his friends an apology.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, I am really sorry this took me so long, but school is kicking my ass once again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!


	6. Apologies and Promises

 

'Gather around guys, Keith has an important announcement to make.'

For a second Keith took in the picture of his co-workers. He knew he had fucked up big time, but now he would stand for it. After understanding what he'd done wrong the only thing he wanted to do was apologize. Perhaps this decision had been influenced by Allura's rage, yet Keith still knew it had to be done.

Few moments later all his colleagues had arrived. Allura was leaning against the counter, arms crossed. She still seemed to be mad and honestly, no one could blame her for it.

Lost in his own grief, Keith had acted irrational and put his friends in danger in the process.

Now he was stepping forward to Allura's side, who was already waiting for him.

'Maybe you've all noticed there's been a ruckus going on in our ward. Keith,' she pointed at him with a swift movement of her hands, ' can tell you more about it.'

He may be thick headed, but Keith surely wasn't a coward. Taking another step forward, he now cleared his throat.

'The past few weeks I've been attacking various investigators so they would focus on this ward. Truth is, they didn't provoke me at all. It was all just me.'

The others were whispering, offended and taken by surprise at the same time.

'It's all my fault and I apologize for putting you all in danger. It won't happen again,' Keith finally added. To make his sincerity clear, he bowed down in front of them all.

Pidge was the first to react. Breathing in sharply, they eventually snapped at him.

'What were you thinking?!'

Hunk simply shook his head. His silence was even worse than a punch or a kick, it just made Keith feel even worse. However, he deserved this.

The only person who didn't react was Lance, he just stood there and watched from afar. Perhaps he had known about it from the beginning on.

Keith took another deep breath.

'I was only thinking about myself, I'm sorry. Still, I hope you can trust me some day again,' he uttered. 'But there's one thing left you need to know, maybe you'll understand a bit better why I did what I did.'

In the background he could spot Lance crossing his arms.

'My friend Shiro is an investigator at the CCG and I need to save him. He used to be human,' he added with another shaky breath.

Various puzzled faces were staring at him now and he could almost hear their confusion.

'For real?!' Lance exclaimed and then proceeded to move closer to Keith. Hunk joined him and put his hands on Keith's shoulders, slowly shaking him back and forth.

'What kind of shady stuff have you gotten yourself into!?' he now asked. Keith looked at him in a serious manner.

'I've always played a part in your so called shady stuff.'

Pidge looked at him from afar and simply nodded, a sign of understanding, only to proceed shouting ',apology accepted, asshole!'

Somehow the others joined them, leaving Keith with a strange feeling in his chest. Even after having fucked up so badly, they were able to forgive him? Maybe this was what acceptance felt like.

Allura then interrupted them all by sending them back to work.

'I don't want my café to go bankrupt because of you,' she said with the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.

 

After that, the first half of the day had passed rather quickly. Keith had finished work without any problems and then went home. Still, it was Monday and for him, the day had only begun. For today, there was another training session scheduled with Pidge, which coincidentally meant hell. Sure, Pidge was pretty small for their age, but one should never mistake them for being weak. They were strong as fuck, to be blunt and Keith had learned this the hard way when they had started training together. In less than two minutes Pidge had given him various lethal wounds. Only thinking back to that day was painful.

So today was one of his highly adored training days again.

'Are you coming?'

Pidge was already waiting for him, as usual. They were a very punctual person, not once had Keith seen them being even one minute too late.

Now they were going to the café's basement, which was being used as some kind of training ground.

Not soon after the beginning of their exercises Keith was slipping back into the normality of their routine and for a moment, he was able to breathe again. Still, Pidge caught him off guard too many times, resulting in him getting hurt again. Nevertheless, this wasn't unusual.

 

Two hours later Pidge had finally taken mercy on him. However, something seemed to be on their mind today; it was like there were unsaid words filling the air.

'I've got to ask you for a favour,' they eventually started several minutes of silence later.

'What is it?' Keith now asked. This was the first time Pidge had asked him to do literally anything for them. This had never happened before, so it was a very curious case. Keith could hear them taking in a deep breath before they continued talking.

'I need you to keep an eye on two investigators I'm interested in.' Pidge shifted from one leg to another. Suspicion arose in Keith.

'Why exactly should I do that?' he questioned, eyes narrowed in suspicion, making Pidge stare at him.

'Cause they belong to my family. There's nothing else you need to know. Just look out for them, okay?'

In Keith's eyes, Pidge suddenly looked horribly young. Perhaps he hadn't bothered to think about it before, but they actually couldn't be older than 16 years.

'Alright, I'll do it,' he finally said, but then added ',I still need some more information though. I need to know whom I'm looking for.'

For a split second there was something similar to relief washing over Pidge's face, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared. In the end Keith wasn't even sure anymore if he'd just imagined it or if it had actually been there. Maybe his eyes had once again played a little trick on him, who knew.

'Their names are Matt and Sam Holt. You'll recognize them right away since they probably look very similar to me.'

Keith simply nodded in affirmation.

'Understood, I'll keep you informed.'

After this, they parted. Pidge disappeared into the dark of the night, leaving Keith all by himself with his thoughts.

Only now had he realized how little he actually knew about his friends and their hardships.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm really sorry for updating so late, but I've been horribly busy and additionally in a writer's block, so yeah. I apologize. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, bye!


	7. Lance

 

Week after week passed and there was an almost peaceful air in the district. There hadn't been many killings caused by ghouls and also no ghouls getting captured or killed by the doves.

Still, it was this calm atmosphere that almost drove everyone crazy. It was simply too peaceful for a district with this many ghouls in it. Allura, Coran, Pidge, Hunk and Lance, they all were expecting something terrible and huge to come soon. Keith instead was too busy trying to gather information to particularly care about the decreasing crime rate in his district. However, this search wasn't going well either. For some reason information about the CCG was damn hard to get.

The whole crew was stressed out and in anticipation, so little fights between the co-workers weren't that unusual. Still, there was one thing that caught his eye: Lance seemed to act even stranger than usual. He was being moody, harsh and downright annoying. At first Keith didn't think much of it, but a week later Hunk pulled him aside so they could talk in private.

'Hey Keith,' he said, 'have you noticed anything strange about Lance lately? I'm worried.'

Keith mustered him. His eyes were full of concern and he kept on fidgeting with his headband.

'Yeah. He's somehow acting different. Not like himself at all,' he answered. A small part of him was happy since he wasn't the only one noticing Lance's abnormal behaviour. The other part of him was downright terrified. What kind of mess could Lance have gotten himself into? Honestly, there were far too many options Keith absolutely didn't want to think about.

Hunk mustered him with serious eyes and then finally started talking again.

'Will you look out for him? I've been friends with Lance for a long time now, so he's probably careful not to let anything slip around me. He knows how well I can read him' Hunk proceeded to say. 'So could you please find out what's going on? Pretty please?'

Going after the sound of his voice he seemed to be more than desperate. And despair was a feeling which was excruciatingly familiar to Keith. So without any doubts, Keith agreed. Lance was his friend as well, even if he didn't show it that often.

'You can count on me,' he then declared and was being surprised by Hunk who trapped him in one of his famous bone-crushing embraces.

'Thank you, thank you, thank you!' Hunk exclaimed and sniffled a little, trying to suppress the upcoming tears.

'It'll be alright, buddy,' Keith reassured him. Secretly, he wanted to believe it as well, but his faith in the world he lived in was currently too small and too fragile, there was no room left for such things as hope.

'Thanks Keith,' Hunk said once again ', I'm relying on you. Lance has been lying to me so often these past weeks. I just need to know he's not doing anything too stupid or breakneck.'

 

For two weeks Keith had spent his time watching Lance. He felt uncomfortable in doing so, but knew it was necessary.

At first he had tried to confront Lance, but hadn't gotten an answer. Without confessing he had left him standing there. Other attempts at talking had ended quite similar.

So now he was watching him at work, was analysing his behaviour day after day after day. Although he tried to keep up with his usual daily routine, Keith soon ended up getting less and less hours of sleep per day. He didn't want to admit it at first, but he was really worried about Lance. For weeks now he smiled less often, stopped joking around and didn't even try to flirt with most of the customers anymore. Lance just looked tired and his eyes had lost their magical gleam.

Somehow, he had gained a lot of muscle mass over the course of a month. Before, you would have described him as lanky, perhaps even as barren. Now, however, he seemed to be more muscualr and less healthy. This change wasn't to an abnormal extent, so Keith was probably the only one who had noticed in the first place.

Today was what he considered to be his free day. No spying on Lance; no work, just Keith, his bathtub and a book.

It was already 8pm when he noticed that he was out of coffee. Actually, he didn't need it to survive but honestly, he was too much of an addict to stop drinking it for only one day. Grumpily he put on his coat and boots and then went to the supermarket to buy a package of coffee pads.

After doing so, he decided to take the long way home. It was a clear and beautiful evening after all; the snow was falling in thick flakes, making the world seem pure and untouchable. Needless to say, Keith absolutely loved snow. Even as a child he had despised the smothering heat of summer.

As he walked by the park, he suddenly heard strange noises. Almost like the sound twigs made when being snapped, only significantly louder. The mere sound sent shivers down his spine. Somehow the sound awoke a distinct feeling of familiarity in Keith, it was as if he'd heard it once in a dream long forgotten.

The closer he got the louder the noise became. Then he saw something moving in the darkest corner of the park.

Keith heard growling and snarling and now he was sure there had to be something, or rather someone hiding in the dark. With every step he took and every additional detail to be seen, his heart beat like crazy.

Someone's back was facing him, straddling a struggling body. Deep down Keith knew exactly what he saw: two ghouls fighting. Running was probably his best and only option.

Still, there was something holding him back. A thought, a feeling, a suspicion lurking in a deeply hidden part of his mind.

Slowly, he approached the fighting figures. As he got closer, he realized what was going on, but couldn't fully process it just yet.

The stronger ghoul was eating the weaker ghoul. Keith had heard of it before, it was frowned upon by the majority of ghouls.

Cannibalism

Then, he accidentally stepped on a branch. The quiet snapping sound was like a scream piercing through the silence. Slowly, the ghoul turned around and his eyes glistened viciously in the darkness. Keith's heart nearly stopped in its tracks as he was facing the ghoul.

'Lance?' he asked closemouthed. The ghoul twitched slightly, but didn't show any other signs of neither recognition nor reaction. Still, it was enough for Keith to know who exactly he was facing.

Without a warning, he was being thrown to the ground and the air had been violently pushed out of his lungs as he slammed into the ground. An eerie smile was adorning Lance's face, yet he didn't say a word.

'Let go of me!' Keith shouted and brought out his Kagune in a futile attempt to stop him. Nonetheless, Lance had been a ghoul for the entirety of his life, contrary to Keith. He knew exactly what he had to do to stop a body from struggling.

'You smell amazing, almost like my mum's cooking,' he snickered before picking him up and smashing him into the next wall. All at once Keith felt funny, there was a sudden feeling of not belonging in his body. He let his eyes wander down his torso.

Lance had impaled him with his Kagune. As realization hit him he was eventually able to feel the pain. With an unhealthy heaving sound he coughed up lots of blood. Lance was still pressing him against the wall, eyes so different, so unlike him. Hunk was right. There was something wrong; horribly wrong.

All of a sudden Keith felt a sharp pain coming from his shoulder. He could sense Lance's breath on the fresh wound, could feel his teeth ripping out bit after bit in a horrendous rhythm. In this state of shock he couldn't even remember if he'd screamed or not or if he'd just kept quiet in silent protest.

Moments, minutes, maybe even years or decades later there was finally the familiar sight of darkness surrounding him, swallowing his maltreated body whole.

Just like when he had to endure his first fights as a half ghoul at the hospital he despised so dauntingly: the darkness is your only true friend.

Still, Keith wouldn't allow himself to lose consciousness. With his last attempt to stop Lance his hand stayed put on his cheek, ready to be ripped off, devoured.

'What are you doing, Lance?' he brought out. Forcing himself to stay awake he saw how Lance's eyes changed back to their human form.

'What did just-,' he attempted to ask, but was interrupted by the scent and taste of meat clogging his senses, making him slowly realize what he'd done. 'Keith?!'

The darkness finally swallowed him and he found himself drowning in black, inky waves.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a surprise, I actually updated in time! I personally loved writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. I kind of feel like I should send Keith an apology though.


	8. Lidio

 

Shadows consumed him hungrily with the intention of fully annihilating him. Their dark clouds enclosed him in a sickening embrace and perhaps, the sweet scent would finally strangle him. In the distance there was someone he used to -or might still- know screaming for help; an almost animalistic wail in the dark.

Heart beating rapidly in his chest, Keith awoke with a startle. The first thing he felt was numbness, for a few minutes his body remained numb and stiff, not wanting to move on its own accord.

Moments, maybe even hours later Keith felt an unexpected tangency, there was someone's hand gliding down the nape of his neck ever so gently. Perhaps it wasn't even a hand, it might've also been just a finger or a chill breeze.

After what seemed to be an eternity, he was finally able to open his eyes again just to witness Lance ogling him with a curious expression on his face.

'You're awake?'

Keith groaned and sat up. 'Sadly, yes.' Every inch of his body hurt and was stinging, causing him to pull a grimace.

As he watched him Lance fidgeted nervously, apparently deciding if helping Keith would be worth it or not. All of a sudden, the latter froze. Memories returned to its host, raging and rumouring. Sharp pain shot through his head and as irregular breaths escaped his lips, he tried to calm down again.

All of a sudden, there was Lance's hand on his back, trying to support him.

'I'm alright,' Keith huffed before shaking it off.

Lance stared at him, the much needed apology was sitting in his throat like a lump; it needed to be said. Still, there was something holding him back. Keith would hate him, but he wasn't able to say it out loud just yet.

'You must be really stupid to go outside so late at night,' he started, already feeling more sorry than before, ' without even paying attention to other ghouls. This is entirely your fault.' With his last few words, he flashed a pained, but cocky grin.

'What's in your mind could be stored in a damn paper plane, you know that Lance?!' Keith growled. 'What's up with you?'

Rather than talking Lance would honestly prefer leaving at this point. Still, he fought the urge and stayed with Keith.

'Well, it's more than what fits in yours!' he retorted and for a second, he was really proud of his comeback. But only for a second.

Under groans and grunts, Keith sat up again. 'You don't get to lie, you don't have the right. Everyone is worried about you so stop fooling around and start telling the truth.' For a moment, everything was quiet. There were signs of worry on Lace's face and Keith knew there was definitely something up. 'You're gonna tell me everything. Now.'

Although he still glared, lace stopped protesting. He had accepted his fate quietly. After crossing his arms he leaned against the wall and looked over to Keith.

' You probably didn't notice, but I have a whole bunch of siblings,' he started and let out a deep breath,' and my parents both died , so obviously I'm the one who takes care of them.' Keith simply nodded, not wanting to interrupt him. 'A few months ago, my youngest sibling was caught by the CCG. He was completely helpless and there was nothing I could do.'

From the way he was holding himself to the tone of his voice, Lance's distress and despair were clearly visible and audible. Of course, the death of his sibling affected him, no matter how strong he pretended to be.

'Lidio is dead and it's completely my fault.' His voice was shaking, like a volcano threatening to spill all the things that were supposed to stay inside and never see daylight. Although he kept quiet about it, the sadness was clearly discernible and Lance had to hold himself back so he wouldn't burst out in tears. After all, he had always been an easy crier and no event could change that fact.

'Why are you eating other ghouls then? Explain yourself, ' Keith now murmured while watching him closely. He completely understood why Lance wouldn't want to talk about this issue, but there was no other way. Hunk and the others were worried and deserved answers to all their questions. Keith didn't want to let them down.

For a second Lance's eyebrows knit in either confusion or annoyance -it was hard to tell- then he unfolded his arms just to cross them again.

'I can't let something like that happen again.' Now he looked at Keith. 'This only happened because I was at work and because I wasn't strong enough to get him out. If I had gotten home just a few hours earlier, then-' he interrupted himself and let his head sink.

And for the first time in his life, Keith didn't know how to react. Lance was telling the truth, that was an unbudgeable fact. An expression this hurt and pain-filled was impossible to fake.

'Lance, I'm-'

'Shut it. I don't need pity, Keith. Especially not yours.' He moved closer to the bed, looming tall and angst-inducing above Keith. 'So you don't have the right to tell me I'm wrong, Mister Perfect over here!'

'Stop trying to act all menacing and shit. Have you ever thought about your friends? Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran, they're all worried sick. Get a grip, Lance!' With a heave he now tried to get up, facing Lance, staring angrily.

Suddenly, he was being shoved further against the bed.

'Shut up, you know nothing!' As he moved to the door, Lance turned around once more. 'Mind your own business Keith, I mean it.'

Then the door eventually slammed shut and he disappeared into the dark hallway. In a fit of rage Keith threw his pillow against the now closed door, against the place where Lance had been standing just a few seconds ago.

'Damn it, you moron!'

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This took me so long I'm sorry!) Halfway through I somehow changed the whole chapter again, so I ended up rewriting. I can't tell you when the next chapter will be up though, since school decided to be a dick again. Hope you still enjoyed this new chapter!


	9. Unfrozen

'Hey Lance, could you get me some more ice from the freezer?'

'Sure thing.' Bored, he walked over to the freezer, opened the door and went inside. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this. A second too late, he realized what exactly was wrong: Hunk had been following him all the way. This was a trap.

As he turned turned around to sprint out of the freezing cold room, the door had already been slammed shut.

'Dude what the fuck?!' Lance shouted, kicking the door angrily before stomping like an upset child. 'Open the door Hunk, I mean it!'

Suddenly, he sensed another presence in the room. There was that one special scent Lance knew too damn well. Strong and penetrative, yet still aggressive in its own way.

Keith.

'Keith, my man. Do you come here often as well? What a coincidence!' he started in an innocent manner, trying to ignore that he was locked in a freezer with someone who was too damn persuasive for his own good.

'Cut the crap.' Finally, Keith emerged from behind a shelf. 'We're going to have a nice bonding moment. Otherwise, we'll both freeze to death.'

Persuasive? No. Lance actually meant goddamn stubborn. Somehow, Keith always managed to push the right buttons in order to annoy Lance.

'You want to talk? Fine, let's fucking talk then. But I won't be the only one, you need to talk about yourself as well though,' Lance eventually started to mock. The cold was already making him shiver.

'Alright,' Keith agreed without hesitation.

Surprised, Lance looked at him. He had sat down next to some packages of frozen fruits and was currently hugging his knees. With a sigh, Lance joined him.

'I'll start because you're a dick. How did you find out about Voltron?' Their chattering of teeth was the loudest sound in this icy hell. After a few moment, Keith took a deep breath.

 _Don't say too much_ , he thought to himself. No one was supposed to know about him being a half ghoul.

'Allura found me.' He shot a quick glance at Lance. 'Now you. Why won't you accept any help?'

With every passing second, they grew more and more aware of the cold gnawing at their cheeks. The cold made Lance tired; tired of pretending and tired of acting. For once, he just wanted to tell the truth.

'We've all got our own problems. I just don't want to burden anybody.'

Suddenly, he felt something cold glide over his hand. Keith had interlaced their fingers and was now staring in the distance.

'What?-'

'Warmth,' he simply said without batting an eye.

Right, they were in a freezer and probably about to die. As a ghoul, you were frequently confronted with your own death. Every morning, you woke up thinking: _Am I going to survive?_

Dying because of the cold certainly wasn't on Lance's 'How I might die' list.

'This damn freezer won't kill me, you hear me mullet man?' he grumbled and pulled Keith closer. Now, Lance was hugging him from behind. This was awkward.

'Next question. Where's your family'

'That's not cool enough for you, huh?' Keith chuckled with wavering voice and then added, 'pun intended.'

Even though he really didn't want to, Lance found himself laughing about this awful joke. Must've been the cold getting to his brain.

Then, Keith's voice started to sound serious again. 'I don't have a family, I'm an orphan. That's why you can burden me all you want, I don't care.'

A single tear dripped onto the floor. Then another one. And another one. A myriad of tears were running down Lance's cheeks. For some reason, there was something stopping him from pretending and lying today. Perhaps it was the cold, perhaps it was the closeness to someone else he had been craving for so long now, perhaps it was just Keith.

His grip around him tightened and body pressed against body in an attempt of staying warm, Lance was finally able to tell the truth.

'Help me protect my siblings, please. Let's be a team.'

Now he could see the cold forming tiny clouds as they were both breathing in and out. The cold was almost painful, like a whip.

For the first time in many years Lance felt so very human and so very vulnerable. Truly incredible.

'Yeah,' Keith simply muttered and then entangled himself from Lance's arms. After grabbing his hand and pulling him up as well, he went over to the door, shivering with blue lips and cold skin. His fingers -soft yet very stiff- knocked a certain pattern on its surface and a bit later, the door was finally being opened.

Hunk greeted the both of them with one of his famous bear hugs.

'Oh my god, I'm so sorry guys! Are you alright? Keith asked me to, so obviously I agreed and I really hope you two got to talk? Jesus, you're freezing cold!' With a quick movement, he lead them both to one of the guest rooms and handed them two blankets. 'I'll be right back with some coffee!'

A sigh escaped Lance's lips. Even though his skin was prickling uncomfortably as it recovered from the cold, he was feeling oddly refreshed. A bit annoyed since Keith locked them both in the goddamn freezer and they could've died for all it was worth; but still refreshed and even a bit relieved. Maybe relying on others wasn't a sign of weakness after all.

'Keith.'

'Hmh?'

Lance took a deep breath and suddenly, it was such an easy thing to do. 'I'm sorry for attacking you, I really am, man.'

A small smile spread on Keith's face, who was currently snuggled up in one of the blankets. 'Yeah, because next time I'm going to be the one who kicks _your_ ass, Lance.'

'Ohoho, bring it on mullet man, bring it on. I could kick your ass any time!'

There was a soft knock on the door and soon after, Hunk entered the room with three cups of coffee and a gentle smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this chapter was a ride. I advise you to NOT lock someone in a freezer when you're trying to talk to them. Honestly. Please don't ask what exactly inspired me to write this chapter because I have no fucking idea. That being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, comments and kudos are always appreciated!


	10. The Beginning 2

After staring at the current date, Keith froze for a brief moment.

'Hey, are you alright?' Alex -Lance's little sister- asked with a worried expression.

'Don't worry, I'm okay. I just remembered something.' It wasn't _just something_. Today was his one year anniversary of working at café Voltron. The thing that surprised him the most was how quickly time had passed by. Somehow, he couldn't believe it had already been a whole year.

Keith gave Alex a quick smile so she wouldn't end up worrying about him and in this exact moment, Lance entered the house.

'I'm home!' he exclaimed, then kicked off his shoes.

'How can you even make such a mess after less than 30 seconds of being here?'

Lance posed dramatically and feigned being hurt. 'How dare you, mullet man. How dare you, I can't believe you.'

They were both laughing until Alex cleared her throat and stared at them judgementally. 'You promised to help me!'

Now interested, Lance approached her. 'What is he helping you with?'

Alex had a big, toothy grin on her face. 'I asked him to teach me Korean and he said yes! You know how much I love languages and my school doesn't teach anything except for German and French. You know how boring that is!' She seemed to be very excited and Lance couldn't help himself but smile again.

'Awesome!'' Then, for a moment he went completely silent. 'Wait. Keith, you talk Korean?!' he shrieked and Keith rolled his eyes in response.

'Obviously. I'm half Korean, Lance.'

'I didn't know.'

'Then you must be incredibly stupid,' Keith began, but then stopped since Alex started to glare at him again. 'I need to talk to Lance for a bit, then we can go on, okay?' He received a grumbled, yet approving reply.

Now he went over to Lance, whispering in his ear. 'The investigators have been really thorough today. Be careful.'

Lance took in a deep breath and then patted Keith's shoulder. 'Thanks, man. I'll take over now,' he said with a serious tone. Keith however had no intent on leaving just yet.

'I'll stay for a bit. Alex would kill me if I just left without having kept my promise.'

An unexpected smile adorned Lance's face and in excitement, he grabbed Keith's hands. 'So you do have feelings! Keith, my buddy, my pal,' he teased.

The feeling of Lance's hand on his own surprised Keith. He had never been one to touch people freely, so that was why he felt a bit flustered now, wasn't it? His heart skipped beats ever so lightly which Keith perceived as a fluttering feeling. 'Uhm, Lance,' he began since Lance still held his hands firmly. Although they were friends by now, Keith felt awkward. To be honest, he didn't know what to look at.

Their joined hands? No, that wasn't right. Lance's eyes? Somehow, this just seemed to make it worse. Lance's lips? Those pretty, luscious- Oh god, what was he thinking.

'Oh, sorry!' Finally, he let go of Keith's hands and scratched the back of his head. 'I'll go and check on Benita and Phil,' he mumbled and then left.

For a few moments, Keith found himself staring at the door. Why the hell was his heart beating like that?!

'Keith, come on!'Alex shouted and Keith returned to the living room so he could finally continue helping her.

'Sorry,' he mumbled before sitting down with his legs crossed. 'Let's go on.'

 

An hour later, his phone started ringing and Alex pouted because apparently, his ring tone was “totally boring”.

'That's just no fun!'

With a grin plastered on his face, Lance entered the room. 'Don't you mean that's no _phone_?'

As an answer, Keith threw a pillow at him. 'I am disgusted.' Then, he motioned both Alex and Lance to stay quiet.

He picked up the phone. 'Yes? This is Keith.'

'Keith!' It was Pidge, but somehow, their voice sounded weird. No, there was something wrong.

'Pidge, what's going on?'

Lance's eyes widened and he moved closer so he could also listen to what they had to say.

'Go to Voltron, now. We've got a problem. It's the CCG, they're there again. You need to do me this favour, Keith. I'm too far away to get there in time.'

Alerted, Keith and Lance exchanged glances.

'I'll be there in 10 minutes.' Hurriedly, Keith put on his coat and grabbed his bag. 'See you, Pidge.' With that, he ended the call and looked at Lance again. 'You stay with your siblings.'

For the first time in many months, Lance simply nodded and didn't protest. After all, his family was all he had left. 'Call me.' There was a rather worried expression on Lance's face as he hugged his sister and whispered: 'Everything's going to be okay.'

Moments later Keith left the house and started to run. If he tried real hard he could make it to Voltron in less than six minutes.

His friends needed him and he would never let them down again.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one was a bit shorter than usual, but I felt like I needed to make the cut now. /spoiler alert/ shit is slowly starting to go down  
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated, thank you for reading!


	11. The Only Way

'Allura? Hunk?! Coran?!' Keith shouted as he finally arrived, panting and trying to catch his breath. As he looked around though, everything seemed to be normal. There were a few guests chattering in a playful manner, but no signs of any investigators whatsoever.

'Oh Keith, is that you?' Allura popped up from behind the counter. 'There's no reason to scream like that, gee.' There were dark bags under her eyes, otherwise she looked fine. ' Pidge called you, I suppose?'

Still breathing heavily, Keith put his hands on his thighs, trying to regulate his breathing.

'Yeah, they did. What happened?'

Now Coran - Allura's uncle - joined them.

'The CCG was here for an awfully long time.'

'They must be up to something,' Allura concluded. 'We have to be extra careful now.'

Keith simply nodded.

'Is there anything I can help with?'

Coran just shook his head.

'We can't do anything about it. Still, we won't give up. We'll fight like a pack of wild Yalmors!'

Keith only managed to nod again, suddenly feeling tired and spent. He didn't even bother to comment on Coran's weird saying about Yalmors.

Ghouls were terrible creatures, but humans at times, could be even worse. Not all ghouls deserved to die and not all humans deserved to live. Life in a world like this one was a mixed blessing. So beautiful, yet so prejudiced at the same time.

'Then I'll go home if you really don't need me. I also need to tell Lance that everything's alright, he's probably worried.'

'Oh, you were with him?'Allura asked, all of a sudden very interested. 'I didn't know you were such good friends.'

For a moment, Keith's heartbeat fastened. Were they good friends? To be quite honest, he hadn't realized, but nonetheless it had somehow happened.

They were so different, yet also so similar at the same time. Perhaps that was the reason they got along in the first place; drawn to each other through their faults and peculiarities.

'We had a bonding moment and kinda get along now,' Keith said, suppressing a smile. He intentionally left out the part where he had locked himself and Lance in the freezer. 'I sometimes look after his siblings.'

'That's really nice of you, but-'

Suddenly, Coran came running towards them, eyes serious and lips pressed to a thin line.

'Run!' he shouted at the top of his lungs. 'Run as fast as you can!!!'

For a split second, both Allura and Keith didn't know what to do. A moment later, Allura quickly grabbed Keith's arm so he would finally flee with her, even if neither of them knew what exactly they were running from. They just had to trust Coran.

'Coran what's wrong?!' Allura panted as she eventually let go of Keith's arm, 'What are we running from?'

Still, Coran kept quiet until they'd reached the back door and left the café behind them. Only now spotted Keith a wound slowly healing on Coran's forehead.

'What-'

'They're going to blow our café up, Allura.'

As realization dawned upon her, Allura's eyes were filled with disbelief and regret. Before she could turn around and run back to the café she cherished with everything she had; the only place where she could still feel connected to her father, Keith and Coran held her back. She struggled and shouted, but they wouldn't let go of her. No matter what, they just couldn't let go of her. Going back would mean her certain death.

Still, she somehow managed to break free without hurting both Coran and Keith too badly. After all, she was a force that shouldn't be reckoned with.

'I can't leave like that! It's father's only-'

Explosives going off were ripping through the silence and for a moment, the whole world just seemed to stop. It was suddenly too quiet, the eerie silence almost violent, the world void of any additional sounds.

Then, hell broke loose.

Screams were cutting through the air; horrified and desperate.

Café Voltron had been blown to bits and pieces. From afar one could make out the flames trying to reach the foggy sky and there was a hellish kind of warmth in the air.

A single tear ran down Allura's cheek, the pain in her chest indescribable and suffocating.

All three of them kept quiet, unable to say anything, but knowing that they all felt the same way.

This meant war.

Coran hugged his niece and they stood there, crying about their loss and pain, Keith was left alone with his thoughts and the sight of café Voltron burning in front of him; the sickening scent of smoke filling the air.

And for the first time since he had turned into a half ghoul, Keith didn't want to be human again. They were only destroying and destroying and destroying without any signs of remorse.

'I won't accept this,' he finally said. Allura and Coran both turned around and mustered him with serious gazes.

'What are your plans?'

There was so much hatred in Allura's eyes, warning everyone that they shouldn't mess with her, especially not now.

'We fight back.'

'I'm in.' Allura pulled Keith in for a quick, yet firm hug. 'You call Lance, I'm getting, Pidge and the others.'

Coran simply watched them, eyes tired and old. The sight of his home crumbling to dust in front of his own eyes wasn't new to him. After all, he had lost his wife and children on a day very similar to this one. Still, it hurt to watch everything they had built over the years burn until there was nothing left except for smoke and dust.

Actually, Coran wanted to stop Keith and Allura before it was too late, but deep down, he knew that they wouldn't listen to him. And to be honest, he as well yearned for revenge.

For years now he'd been patient and kind with the investigators, yet of course they had crossed that final line.

Their death was the only solution. Now the investigators were the ones who had to die. For once, they would turn the tables and turn the hunters into their prey.

'We will make them bleed,' Coran eventually brought out, jaw clenched, fists tightened and every fibre of his body ready to fight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;))) Merry Chysamnas my dudes


	12. Pidge

 

'Lance, someone's calling you!'

'Wait a second, I'm busy right now. Who is it?'

Lance's little sibling ran to his brother's ringing phone, took a glance at it and then returned.

''It says Machinememefucker!' Giggling, Phil ran in circles around his big brother's chair. 'Machinememefucker! What does that mean?'

'No swearing under my roof, young man!' Lance shouted before jumping up and hugging his brother. 'You want me to tickle you for this crime?'

'Nooo!!!'

Suddenly the phone started to ring again.

'Sorry, it might be important,' Lance sighed before picking up his phone. Pidge probably just wanted to rant about yet another episode of the x-files. 'Pidge! What's up my pal?'

'Lance! I don't know what to do, my-' Pidge stopped to take a deep, shaky breath, 'my mum, she's-' They were completely speechless. Desperately, they took in breath after breath, but somehow breathing seemed to be completely useless at this point, almost ridiculous.

'Pidge, stay calm. What's going on?'

'My mum, she- she was killed?'

Lance's heartbeat stopped for a moment. 'Pidge, talk to me,' he urged.

'It was my dad. He killed my mum! He just... killed my mum? What am I-' The sheer terror in Pidge's voice made Lance's skin crawl.

'I will come and get you out of there,' he eventually said after what seemed to have been a decade. 'You can survive this, Pidge!' Hurriedly, Lance grabbed his keys and coat. ''You're not alone.' Although he hated to do so, he then hung up. Pidge's home wasn't too far away. It would take around 20 minutes by foot to get there.

As Lance ran towards Pidge's home, ignoring the lack of air in his lungs, his phone rang once again. Checking the caller ID, he realized that it was Keith. Without hesitating, Lance hung up on him. Keith could surely wait.

 

Finally, he arrived in front of Pidge's home. There was a disturbing amount of red, presumably bloody footprints forming a path to the front door.

Lance gulped nervously and put on his mask, just so he could have the pretence of being safe. To be honest he knew it didn't matter if his face was hidden or not, but strangely enough it made him feel invincible. As a kid, he had thought of it as some kind of superhero suit. Soon enough, the cruel world he was living in had taken this beautiful thought and turned it into pure bitterness. Left behind were nothing but fear and anger.

With very slow steps, Lance approached the house. Perhaps Samuel Holt hadn't left just yet.

'Pidge?' Lance whispered as he pushed the front door open. It hadn't been closed to begin with.

In the distance was the sound of a crying child: uncontrollable sobs and tears forming incoherent words. Then, the crying suddenly stopped as if it hadn't existed at all.

'Lance?' the voice questioned now.

It was Pidge.

Relieved, Lance pulled off his mask and followed their voice, glad that Pidge wasn't lying dead in a ditch somewhere. Yet as he entered the living room, he froze in place.

Pidge was sitting on the ground next to a pile of flesh. There wasn't much left what could be titled either human or ghoul. Nevertheless, now it didn't matter anymore. In death, humans and ghouls were equal.

All Lance could make out was a squishy pile of blood, organs and bones sticking out in random angles. Samuel Holt hadn't killed his wife; he had butchered her until there was barely anything left.

Pidge finally looked up to witness Lance entering the room. Their eyes were swollen, cheeks wet with tears which hadn't dried just yet and and would probably never dry again.

The worst thing though were Pidge's eyes: void of any kind of joy, they looked dull, tired and just dead. Lance knew that look just too well. He had met many ghouls with eyes like these; the eyes of a broken soldier. Eyes similar to Keith's, yet also drastically different at the same time.

'Mum is dead, Lance. What am I supposed to do?' they finally brought out and for once, Lance was at a loss for words. He didn't know any word in the whole wide world which could've made Pidge smile again.

'Pidge, I-' he started, but was once again interrupted by the ringing of his phone. 'Damn it!' he cursed and threw his phone to the ground.

Keith would have to wait.

With a quick movement, he pulled Pidge up and hugged them as bone-crushing as he could.

'Let's leave. You'll stay with me, Alex, Benita and Phil.'

Then Pidge nodded weakly and Lance simply took their reaction as a yes. A place to stay at was all he had to offer at this moment.

'Is there anything else you need?' Lance asked.

After nodding again Pidge grabbed a few of their belongings, rummaged through various drawers and eventually stopped again in front of the pile of remains which used to be Cassandra Holt.

'Goodbye mum.'

This was the last time Pidge had lived in a somewhat happy household of two. Now, they were an orphan, a lost child; without any directions to follow. But somehow, Lance had managed to sace Pidge before they ended up being crushed beyond repair: he had given them an opportunity, a straw to hold onto.

Together, they walked back to Lance's home. During their walk, no words were said. There were no words which could comfort Pidge at this point.

As they arrived Lance unlocked the door and let Pidge in.

'Alex, Phil, Benita! I'm back, Pidge is with me!' he shouted, but was greeted with nothing but silence.

Instead of his siblings, Lance was now facing someone entirely else: Keith.

'Where are my siblings?' Lance asked, fear tainting his voice.

'I had to move them to a different location. They're not in danger. Lance, Pidge, you need to get to Voltron, now. The CCG is attacking and it's really bad. We're in danger.'

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *insert elmo surrounded by flames*


	13. Lost Children

'I won't repeat myself. Where are my siblings, Keith?!' Lance yelled. The strain was just too much and there was only a certain level of bullshit he was able to handle in one day.

'They're safe. I had to take them away.'

A scoff escaped his lips. 'How about asking me first?How am I supposed to trust you after this?'

For some reason, Keith could feel a lump forming in his throat. He didn't know why it was there, this had never happened before. Maybe it was for the best if Lance didn't trust him at all. After all Keith was neither human nor ghoul. Still, now wasn't the time to ponder upon such things.

'I don't know if you can trust me to begin with.' Keith said, trying not to sound hurt. 'I've been trying to reach you, but apparently you were too busy to pick up your damn phone! Where have you been?!'

Between the both of them stood Pidge, shifting uncomfortably. All they wanted to do was lie down and never get up again, but Voltron was calling for them; Allura needed them.

'I was with Pidge! More importantly, something really bad is going on!'

'Lance,' Pidge started in a warning tone, 'just shut up for a moment, alright?' It really wasn't the time to fight among friends right now. Additionally, Pidge really needed a few moments of silence so they could just think. Lance was right, something truly bad was going on and with a bit of concentration they would probably be able to figure it out.

'Yeah Lance, just shut up for a second. Allura needs every help she can get. Voltron is under attack. Do you not care at all?!'

'That's none of your business, Keith! Pidge's father just killed their mother, show at least the tiniest bit of compassion!'

Keith froze for a moment, unable to answer.

Finally, Pidge snapped. Honestly, it was a wonder it had taken them so long to begin with. 'Lance for fuck's sake, I don't want to hear any of that shit right now! Just...,' they took a deep breath, attempting to calm down a little, ' you be a bit more considerate as well.'

Lance and Keith looked at each other and realized how right Pidge actually was. They had just lost so much and probably just wanted to forget the whole world, if only for a short moment. And honestly, everyone deserved a bit of momentary denial.

Keith pushed his hair back and sighed. 'I'm sorry Pidge, but I don't think your mum dying and Voltron being attacked at the same time have been a coincidence. Someone's targeting us and we have to fight back.'

Still, Lance wasn't convinced just yet. 'Pidge's mum just died and all you can think about is fighting? That's low Keith.'

Before Keith had the chance to snap, Pidge intervened.

'Stop fighting! Keith is right, Lance. We need to focus on Voltron right now. Allura and Coran need us. I still have my whole life ahead of me to be sad, so just shut it for a while.'

'Shit. Sorry, Pidge. Are you sure you're okay though?' To be honest, Lance knew there was no way his friend was alright. Still, he needed to make sure they knew that he could be counted on.

'As I said, leave it be Lance. I appreciate your concern, but now is really not the right time,' they mumbled and then sighed. It took them all they had to stay calm. Pidge was barely holding on, they were ripping at their very seams, yet they knew they had to put their feelings aside.

After exchanging a quick glance with Keith -who seemed to understand to at least some extent- they both grabbed Lance by his arms and pulled him out of his own house. 'Let's go!'

Running quickly, the group of three raced towards Voltron, all aware that this could be their last moment spent together.

 

The air was filled with the scent of smoke and ashes. Investigators of the CCG came rushing in, heavily armed with quinques and normal weapons alike. There were bystanders who looked scared, but also some who seemed to film the chaos that was spreading. Various policemen were attempting to lead them towards safety. After all, there were investigators fighting ghouls around and no human being should be endangered.

Hunk watched all of this with nothing but concern filling his thoughts. Were the others alright? Were they fighting or had they already been killed ? Right now, there was no way for him to know.

Still, he didn't waver. He knew he had to fight, no matter how much he disliked it. Today, there was no way around it.

Hunk had to fight, for his friends and also for himself. There was no way he would let the CCG take his family.

Not again.

Many years ago, he had lost every single person important to him. His sister, his mother and also his cousin: all gone. Scared, confused and with no reason to live, Hunk had wandered through the city's alleys. Luckily, Coran had found him and taken him in before it was too late.

Now was the perfect time to repay him for his kindness.

Sensing the presence of another ghoul, Hunk turned around.

A young man of slender stature wearing a pair of glasses and an empty facial expression was walking towards him. To Hunk however, it was clear what exactly this young man was: a ghoul. Yet for some reason, he also wore one of the CCG's uniforms.

How truly ironic.

Hunk straightened up. 'I won't let you guys destroy anything else. First, you'll have to get past me!'

A weird, almost pained smile spread on the young man's face. 'Don't be so cocky. You're nothing more than a barrier and a burden.'

'You think I care about that?! Protecting my family is all I want to do.'

Both men stood there, silent for a moment, but tense and ready to attack.

'Don't blame me if you die then. Our poor Katie will surely be sad, but I can't help it. You're a wall that needs to be torn apart. Orders are orders, so who could blame me, I'm only fulfilling them!' Somehow, there was something truly disturbing about this man, something that didn't quite fit. Perhaps it was the way his eyes looked; as if they threatened to spill with tears.

'Who are you and who's Katie?!' Hunk brought out through clenched teeth.

The familiar scent of another newcomer soddened the air and all of a sudden, he was joined by another ghoul.

Pidge.

'Matt?!'

Another awful, double-dealing grin spread on the young man's face. 'Hello, Katie!'

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest I was really excited to write about Hunk again. I love Hunk. Best man. But in my fanfics, no one can have anything nice so I'm sorry. Hope you still enjoyed this chapter though, comments and kudos are always appreciated.
> 
> PS: School is starting again, so I probably won't update regularly (i never do to begin with whoops), just fyi


	14. A Single Tear

Without a warning, Matt Holt -the young man- lunged forward, trying to attack his younger sibling. He caught them off guard and almost managed to hurt them, but was blocked by Hunk.

Confused, Pidge stepped forward and inched closer towards their long-lost brother. How was he still alive? They had seen him die, so how come Matt was facing them right now?

'Matt, is that really you? What do you think you're doing?! I thought you were dead!' Before they could walk even closer, Hunk held them back and shook his head.

'Look at his uniform, Pidge. He's one of them,' he said, not even trying to talk quietly. It didn't really matter if Matt could hear them or not, his intentions were rather clear.

Realization dawned upon Pidge. Seeing Matt wearing the CCG's uniform was like finding the missing piece to a puzzle you had long given up on attempting to solve.

Matt and Samuel Holt were both still alive, but at what cost? They were now fighting for the CCG, every ghoul's very enemy. Unusual feelings began to spread through Pidge's veins like poison; a mixture of anger, fear and disappointment.

_**Who had given that damned organization the right to destroy families?!** _

'Hunk,' Pidge started, 'help me capture him. You should know, Matt is my brother.'

For a moment, Hunk was confused, but simply nodded upon seeing Pidge's facial expression. It was obvious how dead serious they were about this matter.

'I've got your back, man.'

Suddenly, Matt stepped forward again. 'Who knows, maybe I'm better off dead after all. I'm about to fight Pidge, how magnificent!' he laughed, however there was a single tear running down his cheek. He either didn't bother to wipe it off or hadn't noticed the tear to begin with.

'Matt, what happened to you? You don't have to do this, are you aware? There are other choices.'

'Ah, as serious as usual, little sibling! How truly sad that I'm going to be the one to capture the both of you. And you wanna know what happened to me? I grew up, Katie, that's what happened! The CCG helped me realize lots of different things.'

With an angry shout, Pidge lunged for Matt. 'They screwed with your head, Matt. You're not my brother!'

Swiftly, he dodged the attack and raced towards Hunk, who tried to guard Pidge.

'I don't have any business with you, but stay away from them!'

At the same moment Pidge jumped over Hunk, kicking Matt so he fell into the fuming ruins of what once used to be Café Voltron. Burnt pieces of wood and glass shards were spread on the ground surrounding him. He stood up again, his bleeding leg slowly healing.

' Look at what you've done, Katie. You want me to go and tell pops?' Still, there was this weird, eerie smile on his face and Pidge felt the sudden urge to slap some common sense into that boy.

'Don't mention him again, fuck you!' As they brought out their kagune and sped towards Matt, the young man suddenly lunged forward with incredible speed, unaffected by his wound. Hunk tried to get to him, but was unexpectedly hit with the bullets of a quinque.

That bastard had hid the weapon until this exact moment.

'PIDGE!' Hunk shouted, yet it was already too late.

Matt was impaling Pidge, his enormous kagune piercing through their back. An expression of pure shock was distorting Pidge's face. Confused, they let their gaze wander down until it rested on their mid-section.

'...what?'

Suddenly, they coughed up blood; so much blood.

Content, Matt ripped his kagune out of his sibling's body and took a step back to admire what he had done. He prepared to attack once more, but this time Hunk was able to block him in time.

'Now you've made me angry, big brother. Don't expect any kind of mercy after what you just did,' he grumbled and managed to hold Matt in place.

Now, Hunk was superior. He violently hit the young man again and again, attempting to knock him out. However, Matt didn't plan on giving up without a fight. He struggled, growled and shouted, landing almost as many punches as he received.

'Mind your own business, yellow lion!' he yelled as he defended himself.

All of a sudden, a kagune pierced him right through his stomach. Breathing heavily, Matt slowly turned his face to stare at his attacker in disbelief.

It was Pidge.

'Katie, you little runt-' he choked out, yet somehow his eyes had taken on an almost thankful look. With a last bit of strength, Matt shattered Pidge's mask, revealing the face of his younger sibling. For a split second, he sighed in relief.

'Hunk, go now,' Pidge brought out, ragged breaths escaping their lips. The wound was slowing them down and they could feel that terrible hunger dwelling up, dangerous in its own way. Breathing heavily, they could feel Matt leaning against their chest.

Finally, he had stopped fighting and lost consciousness. Relieved, Pidge hugged their brother gently.

'We will fix you, Mattie, just you wait.' With that, they lost consciousness as well, embracing the numbness of faint after a day they would never be able to forget.

Before Pidge could hit the ground and drag Matt with them, Hunk caught them. Carefully, he supported both Holts as best as he could, even though he himself wasn't unharmed either.

He just had to get to Voltron's secret lair. After that, he could pass out for as long as he needed to, maybe even eat a well-deserved gourmet meal once he woke up again. All he had to do was make sure both Pidge and Matt were at least halfway safe.

Hunk was always looking out for his friends and now, as he was in pain and barely conscious, he wouldn't disappoint them either. With heavy steps and a careful attitude, he managed to sneak past various police cars which were racing towards Voltron.

'Hunk?!'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Uploading ahead of schedule?!!!! It's more likely than you think!


End file.
